When a schoolgirl is abducted in broad daylight, a young woman is forced to face her traumatic past.
When a schoolgirl is abducted, single Mum Freya Heywood fears for the safety of her young son, Billy. Triggered by a van repeatedly lurking near her remote home, memories of Freya’s warped childhood resurface.
Set in the gothic isolation of the Australian bush, a forbidding landscape of dark-edged myth and speculation, The Clearing is an emotional and psychological thriller that burrows under the skin and inside the mind, blurring the lines between past and present, reality and nightmare. Adapted from the book In the Clearing by J.P. Pomare and inspired by real-life cult The Family and various other cults throughout history, this is a haunting story of a young woman who breaks the dark cycle of the past and finds redemption.
Awards
Wins
2024 Screen Producers Australia Awards
Telemovie or Miniseries Production of the Year – Wooden Horse
2024 Telly Awards
Best Title Design, Television – Entropico
2023 Screen Music Awards
Best Music for a Mini-Series or Telemovie – Mark Bradshaw
2023 Australian Screen Editors Ellie Awards
Best Editing in Drama (The Blue Post Award) – Geoff Lamb
2023 ACS National Awards for Cinematography (NSW)
Best Cinematography in a Drama Series (Gold Award) – Campbell Brown
2023 ACS National Awards for Cinematography (VIC)
Best Cinematography in a Drama Series (Gold Award) – Katie Milwright
Nominations
2024 Australian Production Design Guild (APDG) Awards
Costume Design for a Television Production – Erin Roche
Production Design for a Television Production – Pete Baxter
2024 Logie Awards
Best Miniseries or Telemovie – Wooden Horse
Best Supporting Actor – Guy Pearce
2024 AACTA Awards
Best Miniseries – Wooden Horse
Best Lead Actress in a Drama – Teresa Palmer
Best Supporting Actor in a Drama – Guy Pearce
Best Costume Design in Television – Erin Roche
Best Sound in Television – Roger van Wensveen, David Williams, Ralph Ortner
2024 AWGIE Awards
Television, Limited Series – Elise McCredie
2023 Australian Directors' Guild Awards
Best Direction in a TV or SVOD Mini-Series Episode – Jeffrey Walker
2023 Casting Guild of Australia
Best Casting in a Telemovie/TV Miniseries – Jane Norris
Directed by Jeffrey Walker & Gracie Otto
Created and written by Matt Cameron & Elise McCredie.
Produced by Jude Troy
Executive Producers Jude Troy, Richard Finlayson, Elizabeth Bradley, Matt Cameron, Elise McCredie, Jeffrey Walker
Where to watch: Disney+ globally (a Star Original), Hulu (US)